Growing up, we’d pack up the car and take the 8+ hour road trip from Rhode Island to Virginia to visit my mom’s side of the family several times a year. In those days, before the commercialized Internet (much less wireless Internet), tablets, apps, and before most people even had a basic cell phone, my sister and I entertained ourselves with books, magazines, car games, audio books, and my favorite of all: GeoSafari.

The GeoSafari model I had in the 1990s was like this one (for sale on eBay)

Educational Insights’ GeoSafari Laptop looked different back in the ’90s than it does today, but the concept and overall user experience is mostly the same. By the third grade, I was a whiz at geography. I could identify every state and state capital, the oceans and seas, mountain ranges, rivers, Central and South American countries and capitals, and more. While GeoSafari isn’t just about geography, it was what I used the most. (To this day, I still kick myself for not trying out for Where In the World is Carmen San Diego? I totally would have won that trip at the end.) I credit GeoSafari for my enthusiasm for geography and maps, which I still have to this day. [Read more...]

New Products

Jakks Pacific Inc. has secured a licensing agreement with Lafig and Sony Pictures Consumer Products to produce toys and related products based on the Smurfs franchise, including the classic Smurfs brand and the upcoming Smurfs feature film premiering in August 2016. The worldwide master toy agreement includes the rights to produce figures, play sets, plush, [...]

On March 20, Nintendo will launch the Super Mario amiibo—Gold Edition, a gold-colored Mario figure that arrives on the same day as the Mario Party 10 game for the Wii U console. The new gold-colored Mario is compatible with multiple games that support the amiibo line of figures. Mario Party 10 features a new amiibo [...]

Jelly Jam Entertainment has partnered with Kids Preferred to launch The Moodsters, a new line of toys and books designed to teach kids the fundamentals of feelings. The Moodsters consist of five lovable detectives—Coz, Lolly, Snorf, Razzy, and Quigly—who come to the rescue whenever their friends, Zach and Zoey, have a feelings emergency. The stories [...]

The fifth season of TV series The Walking Dead will be accompanied by new The Walking Dead Minimates, from Diamond Select Toys and arriving at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide and toysrus.com in March. The new assortment features characters from the “All Out War” story arc featured in issues No. 115 to 126 of The [...]

Corus Entertainment‘s Nelvana has entered a partnership with Cepia LLC to bring the Zhu Zhu Pets brand back to store shelves, with Nelvana Studio producing a new animated series based upon the property. Nelvana Enterprises will also oversee global merchandising of the brand in conjunction with the distribution of the new series.